The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration announced a $275,000 grant to Trout Unlimited as part
of a multi-project cooperative partnership to restore coastal and
river fisheries habitat throughout the coastal United States. NOAA
is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant supports a three-year partnership
between Trout Unlimited and the NOAA Restoration Center for habitat
restoration projects that benefit commercial fisheries resources and
recreational sportfish. The partnership will engage citizens in local
habitat restoration projects that benefit cold-water fisheries, such
as placement of wood in spawning streams and removal of out-dated
dams.

“The
continued partnership between NOAA and Trout Unlimited demonstrates
both organizations' commitment to restoring fisheries habitat,”
said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans
and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “These habitat restoration
efforts fit into our model of ecosystem-based management, and promote
local stewardship of the habitats that sustain our nation’s
fishery resources.”

This continuing partnership advances
activities that began in 2001. NOAA and Trout Unlimited collaborate
to implement restoration projects on a watershed scale as well as
through Trout Unlimited’s Embrace-A-Stream program which funds
Trout Unlimited chapters that are implementing restoration projects
locally. Embrace-A-Stream projects have been funded in nine states,
while projects on a watershed scale have been implemented directly
by Trout Unlimited in Maine and California.

“Our partnership with NOAA is providing
great benefits for coastal river habitats and the conservation of
Atlantic and Pacific salmon. The restoration of salmon is a national
priority and the NOAA/TU effort has been a very effective vehicle
for involving local communities in a united effort to bring back these
fish. By directly involving coastal communities in habitat conservation,
we’re building habitat and fisheries that will last,”
said Joe McGurrin, Trout Unlimited director of resources.

The NOAA Restoration Center Community-based
Restoration Program is a financial and technical assistance program
that promotes strong partnerships at the national, regional and local
level to restore fisheries habitat. NOAA CRP works with organizations
and government to support locally-driven habitat restoration projects
in marine, estuarine and riparian areas. NOAA CRP funds on-the-ground
habitat restoration projects that (1) offer educational and social
benefits for citizens and their communities, and (2) provide long-term
ecological benefits for fishery resources. Since 1996, more than 900
projects in 26 states have been implemented using NOAA funding and
leveraged funding from national and regional habitat restoration partners.

Each year, NOAA awards approximately
$900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific, and
business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission
to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental
change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide
decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA goals and
programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science
and service to the nation for the past 35 years.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic
security and national safety through the prediction and research of
weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship
of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

Trout Unlimited is North America’s
leading coldwater fisheries conservation organization, dedicated to
the conservation, protection and restoration of trout and salmon fisheries
and their watersheds. The organization has more than 130,000 members
in 450 chapters in North America.